


day eleven ; escape.

by quinlinkin



Series: take it from me ( i'd be lost without you ) [11]
Category: The Walking Dead (Telltale Video Game)
Genre: Gen, twdgdrabblechallenge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-11
Updated: 2019-11-11
Packaged: 2021-01-29 01:08:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,073
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21401653
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quinlinkin/pseuds/quinlinkin
Summary: It becomes apparent that he’d been viewed as worth saving when he wakes up alongside Violet within a cold, musty cell. His neck had been hastily bandaged, his throat feeling as if a hot poker has been brutally shoved down it. Tears sprang to his eyes as he’d struggled to sit up.Rage had taken over in an instant.
Series: take it from me ( i'd be lost without you ) [11]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1533620
Comments: 5
Kudos: 10





	day eleven ; escape.

**Author's Note:**

> more mitch lives au! i swear i only meant to make this short and sweet, but y'know... i can't control myself apparently lmao

He’d been easy enough to capture once Lilly’s knife had mercilessly slashed across his throat.

Falling to his knees, his hands clutched around his neck, Mitch had thought that was it. He could feel the blood seeping through his fingers, dripping to the ground and staining his sleeves a dark, angry red. Willy’s voice rang out across the courtyard in a desperate cry of his name, and Mitch wanted to yell right back, tell him to stay away, to not risk himself in trying to rescue him when it was already too late.

But, he couldn’t speak. He couldn’t do anything more than uselessly slump over onto his side, gasping for air as he continued to grow weaker beyond his control.

He’d blacked out shortly thereafter. _ Easy pickings_. It becomes apparent that he’d been viewed as worth saving when he wakes up alongside Violet within a cold, musty cell. His neck had been hastily bandaged, his throat feeling as if a hot poker has been brutally shoved down it. Tears sprang to his eyes as he’d struggled to sit up.

Rage had taken over in an instant.

“Mother- _fuckers-_” he’d managed to choke out, his voice barely above a strained whisper, though with the attempt to speak came a brand new searing wave of pain that had nearly brought him to his knees a second time.

He was beaten down. Broken. _ Ashamed_.

Lilly made sure to rub it in his face how foolish he’d been to try charging her when she’d come down to their cells in order to further intimidate them. She made it crystal clear to him how pathetic his attempt truly was, how she so _easily_ could have killed him.

But, somehow, at least according to her; he had also showed_‘potential’. _

_ A good soldier_, she’d told him, after he’d been properly trained and weaponized. She was trying to manipulate him, just as she did towards Violet.

He didn’t fall for it. Not like she did. Mitch couldn’t blame her for that, not with Minerva’s looming presence as she peered through the iron bars, watching with cold eyes as Lilly continued to brainwash the person she had once loved.

Though, it’s not to say he didn’t suffer underneath his own inner turmoil.

The embarrassment he feels towards his disastrous failure in killing Lilly plagues him like a disease. It creates a feeling of immense weakness, so powerful that it all but incapacitates him.

Mitch doesn’t speak another word, and it’s not entirely due to the blazing pain in his throat. Wedging himself into the corner opposite Violet, he consumes himself in self-created silence.

At least, until Clementine makes her grand appearance.

Perhaps it shows far too little faith than what she deserves when Mitch is taken completely by surprise by her arrival. He’s unable to comprehend why a girl they’ve known for a total of two weeks would lay her life on the line to save them, and yet, here she is.

Captured with the rest. Mislead by Minerva in a deliberate act of betrayal that makes him hate her impossibly more. He hadn’t any time to warn her before she’d been knocked unconscious.

It’s all he can do in repayment to try and redeem himself. With a newfound sense of determination fueled by Clementine’s selfless devotion towards bringing them home, Mitch is right by her side as wakes, when she puts her plan into motion. He’s right there as she deals firsthand with Lilly’s attempts at manipulating her.

And with AJ freshly whisked away by Lilly as a last resort when all else fails, she feels like a ticking time bomb, even more dangerous than the genuine explosion waiting to happen underneath their feet.

If they somehow manage to make it out of this alive, he’ll be sure to tell Willy just how proud he is.

“Don’t,” Minerva breathes, facing Clementine where she clings her hands around the rusty iron bars. “_Don’t you dare look at me like that_.”

Mitch sneers at her from the sidelines. It had taken everything he had in him to not try killing her himself after learning of the truth about Sophie, regardless of the fact it surely would have only gotten himself killed in the process. Regardless, his newly induced fury remains very much alive and well.

Minerva seems to read that well enough without him having to speak. She meets his rage-filled eyes, and freezes on the spot.

“_Mitch_,” she all but gasps, fervently shaking her head. After everything that’s happened, and she _still _ has the audacity to try explaining herself. “This- this is the _only_ way we survive-”

In the next moment, Louis gratefully takes the words right out of Mitch’s mouth

“_Are you serious, right now?! _ ” he cries out incredulously, stepping closer to the bars of his adjacent cell. “After everything that she’s done, you’re just gonna _ help her?! _”

And then, in a tone filled with so much sheer intensity, unlike anything Mitch has ever heard from him before, Louis yells point blank, “_Fuck. You! _”

He couldn’t have said it better himself.

It buys them the necessary amount of time to continue their plan, Minerva turning to face Louis in order to confront him. As Clementine drops to her knees to retrieve the knife AJ had slid into their cell, Mitch readies himself to burst through the door the second she successfully unlocks it.

Except, neither of them could have expected the newest delay in their efforts. In a flash, Violet has crossed the room from where she’d previously been huddled in the far corner, and it takes a moment for Mitch to process what’s happened. It doesn’t allow him the proper amount of time to intervene.

Violet grabs Clementine, forcibly shoving her against the wall and halting her process on chipping away at the rusted metal. 

“What the fuck are you doing?!” Violet looks frenzied, panic clear even in her angered expression. “You’re going to get us all killed!”

Yet as she rears back, ready to clash with Clem who’s already braced herself, Mitch finally steps into motion. He lunges forward, grabbing Violet by the wrist and securing her before she has the chance to make a move. 

Predictably, she immediately begins to thrash.

“Get the fuck off me!” she growls, and while she gives her best effort in yanking away from Mitch’s grasp, he’s far bigger and stronger than she is.

The commotion all too easily attracts Minerva, who rushes towards their cell the second she registers what’s going on. “What the hell are you doing?! _ Stop! _”

He’s thankful that Clementine wastes no time in resuming her efforts to escape. Though just as she manages to break through the thin sheet of metal to allow her access to the outside lock, Violet becomes more desperate.

And, in her wild, desperate flailing, the back of her head makes contact with Mitch’s throat. _ Hard_.

The pain that instantly ensues is blinding, his airway constricting until he’s sent into a violent coughing fit that’s well beyond his control. Gasping, he’s forced to unwillingly release his hold upon Violet, a hand moving to grasp at his bandaged neck.

It’s only for a fleeting second. Call it adrenaline, or perhaps it’s simply the pure instinct to survive. Whatever the case may be, even as he can feel fresh blood beginning to seep through the bandages and smearing against his palm, he throws all caution into the wind.

Violet is making another grab for Clementine. Minerva is raising her crossbow.

There’s no time. In one last attempt to free themselves, Mitch charges.

He hits the door with more than enough force than what’s necessary, sending it flying open and knocking Minerva to the ground with it. Her crossbow skids across the dingy carpet, though Mitch pays it no mind.

He can’t stop, not now. He puts all of his trust into Clementine to free the others as he turns around, and with blood trickling from his neck down the front of his chest, he squares off against Minerva.

She knows she doesn’t stand a chance against him if he gets the upper hand. But, she’s desperate. Reaching behind her, she brandishes a knife.

“I won’t let you get them all killed!”

Mitch raises his hand just in time as she strikes, catching her arm in his hand. While he may possess the advantage in strength that hinders her ability to force the knife any closer, he forgets about her certain, newly acquired assets.

An entire year of intense Delta training. A soldier in her own right. It’s nearly a fatal mistake.

With one powerful, well aimed kick, she takes out his knee, and he goes down. Somehow, Mitch’s grip around her arm remains unwavering, tightening enough that he manages to take her down with him. They land in a tangled heap on the ground, and although Mitch can feel his wound steadily oozing more blood, it hardly deters him.

He gets the upper hand. Flipping himself over until he’s hunched over Minerva’s scrambling form, he pins her knife-wielding hand above her head, and _slams _ it against the floor.

With a sharp cry, her hand is forced open just enough for the knife to be sent clattering. Clementine appears seemingly out of nowhere, quickly snatching it up and out of her reach. Though it doesn’t stop Minerva from making a frantic attempt to reclaim her weapon, and as she twists underneath Mitch’s grasp, Clementine springs into action.

It’s the only way they can be ensured she’ll stay down. Raising her first, Clementine strikes. Once, twice, until Minerva has been knocked out cold.

Maybe they make a great team, after all. With Minerva subdued, Mitch raises to his feet, leaving her passed out and defeated on the floor.

He turns around, only to be met with yet another surprise.

Louis had managed to get a hold of Minerva’s discarded crossbow somewhere during the altercation, and kneels with it pointed at her with shaking hands. There’s profound fear in his eyes, and Mitch realizes he’d been mentally preparing himself to take a shot. He’d been ready to potentially save Mitch’s life, even if it meant harming the person they’d once called a friend.

Mitch doesn’t get the chance to show any amount of appreciation. Nor does he have time to warn him, for in the next second, Dorian suddenly approaches from behind Louis.

“What the hell is going on down here?!”

She grabs his shoulder, and in a panic, Louis spins around with a startled gasp of, “Oh, _fuck!_”

The crossbow goes off.

With a sickening, gurgling sound, Dorian instantly collapses. The bolt had gone straight through her mouth, and as her lifeless body slumps forward, Mitch can see where it protrudes through the back of her skull.

“_N-no, no, no_,” Louis utters weakly as he pitifully scoots away on the floor. His expression is entirely distraught, reflecting the horror for what he’s mistakenly done as it sets in. “W-wait… No, that’s not what I…”

As Clementine runs to unlock Aasim and Omar’s cell, Mitch simply can’t take his attention away from Louis. He approaches him carefully, just as he’s feebly tossing the crossbow aside from where he’s left in a crumpled mess on the ground.

“_I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry-_”

Mitch’s chest constricts at his repeated apologies, the broken tone of his voice downright breaking his heart. He feels partially responsible, a rising sense of guilt not for the death of a coldhearted woman, but the softhearted boy who’d accidentally caused it in a noble attempt to protect him.

Louis is far too good for this miserable fucking world. It makes Mitch sick at how unfair it is that he’s been forced into this situation.

Despite the condition of throat, Mitch forces himself to speak. “_Lou_,” he rasps, a grating, unnatural sound.

Louis’ head snaps up, his eyes wild and horribly distressed. With a sorrowful look, Mitch tentatively offers him his hand.

“Let’s-” he winces for a moment, before powering through the pain. “Let’s get… the _ fuck _ off of this goddamn boat…”

Sniffling, Louis hesitates before slowly nodding his head. He takes his hand, and Mitch gently pulls him to stand.

“I- I didn’t-” Louis mumbles, his breath hitching.

He doesn’t need to clarify, doesn’t need to explain himself. It’s no secret to anyone that Louis would never intentionally harm anyone, whether they deserved it or not.

Mitch squeezes his hand. “_I know_.”

**Author's Note:**

> you can view the entire prompt list for this challenge + further details [here](https://stop-breaking-my-heart-telltale.tumblr.com/post/188685687800/twdg-writing-challenge-write-a-drabble-every-day). all of my drabbles will also be posted on my personal tumblr ( under the same username ), so always feel free to contact me about anything at all over there! happy writing!!


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